Meditating on Hearing, etc

观照听到，等等

Mālukyaputta undertook to apply mindfulness to the activities of the six senses. If one is constantly mindful, one will just hear what appears at the ear-door, and no more. As I am delivering this discourse, you are hearing each syllable that I am uttering. If you concentrate on each syllable that I pronounce, you will certainly miss the import and meaning of what I am trying to convey to you. If you stop short at cognition of the sounds that I make, you will not be able to note them in the conceptual way, which means you will not form any concept regarding what you hear. Likewise, when you smell an odour, you just know the odour. Consciousness will not flow any further than that. When you feel tactile sensations and stop short at that, you will just know that you have touched something or that something has touched you, and you will not go beyond that.

摩罗迦子开始正念于六个感官的活动。如果持续地保持正念，将会只是听到在耳门所听到的，再无其他。在我讲解这个课程时，你正在听着我发出的每个音节。如果你专注于我发出的每个音节，你当然会错过我要传递给你们的意思和含意。如果你停留在觉知我发出的声音，你将无法以概念的方式去注意它们。同样地，在嗅到气味时，你仅仅是了知气味，这样，心识就不会流到更远(注：超出“只是嗅”)。在感受身触(注，身体对地火风三界的感知)时，在那里停住，你就仅仅是知道你接触到了某物或者某物接触到了你，你就不会超出那(只是触)。

With the range of mental objects too, you will just stop short at the point where mind-consciousness arises without formulating concepts. Then defilements will not be able to arise. I will say more about that later.

对于心的对象，同样，你只是停在意识生起的那个时刻，不要带有构想的概念。烦恼就无法生起。关于这点，我在后面会有更多的叙述。

Let me remind you of the passage cited earlier regarding seeing, hearing, etc. “When you see, you just see it; when you hear, you just hear it; when you think, you just think it; and when you know, you just know it.” This is the practice of insight meditation in a nutshell. It means that when consciousness of sense-objects arises, you should note the arising so that the mind just stops there. You will not be able to do this unless you note the phenomenon with mindfulness. Even when you are trying to note in this way, your mind may deviate from its main objective to investigate the nature of the object, especially when you are just beginning meditation.

我提醒下先前谈及的关于看、听等等的引句，“在你见时，你仅仅是见它；在你闻时，你仅仅是闻它；在你觉时，你仅仅是觉它；在你知时，你仅仅是知它。”这就是内观禅修练习的核心。它的意思是，在感官对象引发的心识(注，六识)生起时，你应该注意这种生起，这样你的心就会只是停在那里。除非正念地注意这些现象，否则你无法做到这点。(如果没有正念，)即使你尽力地用这种方式去注意，你的心还是可能会偏离它的主要目标去研究对象的性质，特别是当你还是新手时。

Some assert that by merely investigating the three characteristics one can remain just with consciousness as it arises. Some go so far as to say that the mind should be just kept as it is, then it will automatically stop at cognition of things seen or heard. This amounts to saying that the mind should be left unrestrained without keeping guard over it. This means that mindfulness will be discarded. Let me ask such dissenters, “How will you react to harsh words that grind your ears, or to trash that inflames you, or to physical and mental pain that undermine your equanimity?” Without noting the psyche with mindfulness, how can anyone keep it as it is? Let these people judge for themselves the true worth of their own assertions.

某些人声称，仅仅通过研究三种特相，就能让心在生起时停留住。某些人走得更远，他们说心应该保持它自己的样子，然后在认知所看或所听时它就能自动地停住。这些言论都是在说，心应该保持不受约束，不要看守它。这意味着抛弃了正念。我来问问这些见解者，“面对折磨你耳朵的粗暴语言，或者激怒你的攻击言论，或者破坏你定力的身体和精神上的痛苦，你将会如何反应？”离开对心保持正念地观照，谁能做到让心保持它自己的样子？让这些人自己对他们主张的正确性做个判断。

When a meditator contemplates constantly on the phenomena of seeing, hearing, etc., he or she will realise the knowledge of dissolution, which will reveal the moment when dissolution occurs. If the meditator abides in that moment, insight knowledge will be strengthened and its benefits will follow.

禅修者持续不断地观照看到、听到…的等等现象，就能达到揭示坏灭发生的时刻的坏灭智。如果禅修者坚守于那个时刻，观智就会得到加强，它的益处将会随之而来。